October 10, (THEWILL) – Ahead of the 2023 general elections, Christian leaders in the Northern part of the country have united against religious and divisive tendencies in the polity.
The leaders in a meeting, led by the immediate past Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir David Lawal, resolved to work with their Muslim counterparts in the North, to adopt one of the opposition presidential candidates in a bid to defeat APC’s same faith ticket
Sources said the aggrieved politicians are considering the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Atiku Abubakar, Labour Party’s (LP) Peter Obi and New Nigerian Peoples Party’s (NNPP) Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, who have presented a Muslim-Christian joint ticket, as their consensus candidate.
The resolution was part of outcome of a consultative meeting and dialogue between Northern APC Christian leaders and Northern Muslim political leaders held on Saturday at NAF Conference Centre, Kado, Abuja.
The communiqué jointly signed by a former deputy governor of Sokoto State and the Minister of Water Resources during the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo, Mukhari Shagari and Dogara, claimed that the resolution had the full backing of their members across the 19 Northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
It reads: “We have agreed to work together with a view to fostering unity, peace and national cohesion; to work together and jointly adopt a pan-Nigerian political platform that will engender unity, inclusiveness and a sense of belonging among the Nigerian citizenry.
“Conscious of the multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural configuration of Nigeria, we believe that a same faith ticket and voting along religious lines may trigger dangerous dimensions of negative consequences among our disparate peoples in ways that will hamper nation building.
“Consequently, we have agreed to channel our energies on matters that unite us more as a people instead of encouraging attacks on sensitive issues bordering on religion in the name of politics.
“In view of the above, we have agreed to set up a committee with the mandate to fashion out strategies for advancing the objectives set forth in this resolution.”
Some of those at the meeting included Boni Haruna, Abdulfatah Ahmed, Damishi Sango, Senator Idris Ahmed Umar, Yomi Awoniyi, Simon Achuba, Ummara Kumalia and Baba Shehu Agaie.
Others are Air Marshal Monday Morgan (rtd), General Ishaya Bakut (rtd), Mohammed Sani Sidi, John B. Bawa, Dr. Iliya Stephen Mshelia, Sarah Allabeh-Nanpon, Leah Solomon, Mohammed Alhaji Yakubu, Prof. Salamatu Machunga, Mela Nanghe (SAN), Reverend Joseph Hayab, Reverend Innocent Solomon, Reverend Habila Tengya, Haruna Mohammed and Gwamna Dimas.
Former governor of Katsina State, Ibrahim Shehu Shema, Senator Adamu Aliero, Capt. Idris Wada, Senator Umaru Tsauri, Imam Sani Ishaq and Sheik Halliru Maraya, who could not make it to the meeting, sent in their apologies and adopted all resolutions of the meeting.
About the Author
